Wednesday, 30 May 2012

A couple of nights ago I had a walk up the bridleway at Prestwick Carr to see if there were any Snipe drumming. There were at the second gate although I only caught sight of one. There was another on the edge of one of the remaining horse field wet areas and three over the crossroads.
The horse fields still hold Greylag, Oystercatchers,Canada geese, Curlew and Lapwing.

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

At long last the Large Red and Azure damselfly have emerged. Now it seems like spring.
These were at Big Waters outlet stream today. One of the Rangers said that there had been one or two about last Saturday but these are a first for me.

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Late afternoon visit to Gosforth Park NR in sunshine was very pleasant. At the pond hide the Common Terns were sharing the platform with a Greylag goose and Black-headed gull. Reed Buntings and Sedge Warbler were seen.

The Swans have a brood of nine and there were Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen.

Walking through the woodland Roe Deer and Fox were spotted, Jay and Green Woodpecker heard and then both briefly seen.

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Leaving the valley heading for the moors we pulled over to the right where an old mining pond remained with Curlew and Mistle Thrush around its perimeter, while Lapwing and Curlew flew over the surrounding fields.
Climbing further up onto the moors more and more Red Grouse appeared.

There certainly appeared to be good numbers although a greater number of heather burning strips were evident.

We stopped by a small stream where in the past I had been certain that I had seen Rig Ouzel and after a short stroll down the stream I heard a call similar to that of a Blackbird alarm and then it broke cover showing itself to be Ring Ouzel.

We carried on over the top to Stanhope and after more intake of refreshment, wandered down to the river where there were Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Barn Swallow and a few renegades

On the main street some magnificent model steam engines

and the fossil tree has a new sign

On the return journey back over the moors we spotted what I thought was a very light coloured Red Kite but was intrigued when I realised that none of the photos I managed showed a forked tail although I'm convinced I saw one when watching it thro' the bins.

It had a very light grey head.

and repeatedly dropped onto the same spot before flying off up the valley.

About me

The wrong side of pension age, I reawakened my earlier interests in bird and widlife watching, with a holiday on The Isle of Mull during summer 2008. Bought a scope to watch eagles and otters and we were not disappointed. So when we got home I started to cover some local haunts and thought it may be worthwhile to put some time in and around the The City of Newcastle and the River Tyne.I also paint pictures, most having some link to football and a selection can be seen at www.fansoffootball.net